I found that they were just slightly too heavy to feel steady on my head. The thing is that I too much gear and I basically sell anything that isn't comfortable first because I generally won't wear it.

Listened to the RE-400 today; I'm very impressed. It's definitely a <$100 benchmark.

Also, there's a slight metallic sheen to the timbre that doesn't bother me, but people who didn't like it in the RE-0 should stay away. It's not because of the titanium diaphragm, because my RE-262 has a titanium diaphragm as well and doesn't sound that way. Could be the metallic housing, not sure. Otherwise, it's a big step-up over the RE-0, and has SQ that competes with things several times its price.

Your impressions mirror mine, it seems. I too detected a bit of a metallic timbre, though it wasn't evident right away to my ears.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgray91

Question on music: do vocals in songs always in the centre image, or can it vary between how they are mastered? Listening to one with a slight left image. This is disconcerting as it could mean a few:
1) I am getting slightly deaf in the right ear
2) Hardware
3) ...
4) Profit?

It could be a sign of a channel imbalance. It might be a temporary effect due to having waxy build up more on one side than the other, or it could be resulting from a wonky fit on a particular pair of earphones; if said earphones are inserted differently on either side, that could skew the balance. Try fiddling with them?

More times than not however, it's the mastering. There's nothing inherent about vocals that dictates they be front and center of a given track. The obvious way to tell is to listen to the same track with different gear. If the balance varies, then it's probably not in the master, though keep in mind headphones can have some slight variation in how they reproduce a soundfield even when they're not suffering from a faulty driver. Also the imbalance can be at the amp part of the chain (like when a tube is going bad) which would make any headphone or earphone sound skewed, so try to use a different chain altogether too.

Obviously if the issue was with your hearing, then every piece of gear and every track would sound skewed.

I think some head-fiers tend to take mastering for granted. In the pathway to from the source to your ears, nothing really makes quite as big of a difference in the end experience than what happened before your audio chain even came into the picture.

I get this too. Is there a better name for this phenomenon? I've only ever found it happens with some very specific earphones over the years, and for me, only with supple tips like the Sony hybrids.

I don't think there's a technical name?

Maybe it's because in a tight vacuum seal when we push the IME more into the ear canal the air pushes on the ear drums restricting it's responses to the sound vibrations......

In normal IME tips I think due to the softness of the tips when we push the IME inwards the ear drum instead of the air compressing it escapes......

In the Sony Hybrids due to the foam the seal is tighter so the air can't escape....

Wait, are you guys talking about compression? This is where the tip has been inserted so far, that the walls of our ear canals compress the tips so that they basically close up right? Or am I getting it all wrong?

Wait, are you guys talking about compression? This is where the tip has been inserted so far, that the walls of our ear canals compress the tips so that they basically close up right? Or am I getting it all wrong?

This. After inserting the IEM, if you hear/feel one side is blocked, very slightly pull the IEM out just bit - often times this will allow the ear canal to open back up without losing the seal.

It could be a sign of a channel imbalance. It might be a temporary effect due to having waxy build up more on one side than the other, or it could be resulting from a wonky fit on a particular pair of earphones; if said earphones are inserted differently on either side, that could skew the balance. Try fiddling with them?

More times than not however, it's the mastering. There's nothing inherent about vocals that dictates they be front and center of a given track. The obvious way to tell is to listen to the same track with different gear. If the balance varies, then it's probably not in the master, though keep in mind headphones can have some slight variation in how they reproduce a soundfield even when they're not suffering from a faulty driver. Also the imbalance can be at the amp part of the chain (like when a tube is going bad) which would make any headphone or earphone sound skewed, so try to use a different chain altogether too.

Obviously if the issue was with your hearing, then every piece of gear and every track would sound skewed.

I think some head-fiers tend to take mastering for granted. In the pathway to from the source to your ears, nothing really makes quite as big of a difference in the end experience than what happened before your audio chain even came into the picture.

Hmm, good point on the wax build up. Once I'm not busy, I'm surely going to make an appointment with an ENT clinic for clean up. The easiest upgrade, as you once mentioned.

And regarding mastering, I'm again wondering whether the Japanese nailed it perfectly or just my gears that are forgiving since most, if not all, of my anisongs have so far been excellent.

Really need to get me some of the more widely known good mastered songs. (Yes I know there's some example named in that other place.)

Wait, are you guys talking about compression? This is where the tip has been inserted so far, that the walls of our ear canals compress the tips so that they basically close up right? Or am I getting it all wrong?

I think we are talking about the same thing, but I don't think this is the mechanism of action. I always thought it was because insertion of the tips evacuates too much (or maybe too little) air from the canal, and then when the tip tries to form a new shape there is a pressure imbalance and a suction feeling from the air pulling on your ear drum.